Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is located inbetween Bolivia and Peru and is very interesting. Situated very high in the mountains at 3800 meters above sea level it is a beautiful view and the highest navigable lake in the world. Throughout the year it is eavily touristed and apparently a great vacation. Lake Titicaca has a very important meaning to the Incan religion because supposedly the Incans king Manco Capac was born here. (LakeTiticaca.org) According to Mayan religion, this is wher the world was created, when the god Viracocha came out of the lake and created the sun, stars, and the first people (LakeTiticaca.org). The copacabana is located on the lake and is in Bolivia. Ma ny bolivians reside around the lake including the Aymarans. The lake is very large with plenty of places to explore including the many islands in the middle of the lake. A great touristing spot (although tourists are not welcome whih is obvious due to the fact there are no roads) is the Island del sol (Island of the Sun) where there is more than 180 ruins from the Incan period (LakeTiticaca.org).

Because of its gigantic size, the lake is used for many different things from leisure to Bolivian naval excercises! The average depth of the lake is 350 feet but the deepest part is 930 feet! The water in the lake is a mixture between rainwater and snowmelt from the surrounding Andes mountains. Some 20 odd rivers also feed int the river and all of these sources make the water very cold. As i said before the Islands on the lake are very interesting. For instance there are 41 of them and on many of them people consider it there home. One amazing thing about the islands of Titicaca is that there are islands that float! Natives there made there islands out of the tortora reed.


Inca ruins on Isla del Sol
Inca ruins on Isla del Sol
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca

These are the ruins from the Isla Del Sol A picture of the lake also showing one of the islands